Saturday, March 30, 2013

Marquette - Syracuse Elite Eight Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament facts about Marquette and Syracuse after their Elite Eight game:

Syracuse is in the Final Four for the first time since 2003. This is their 5th Final Four.

Syracuse joins Duke and Kansas as the only school that has been in the Final Four each of the last 5 decades. (Note: Decades are defined as starting with a year ending in zero.)

Jim Boeheim is in his 4th Final Four. He has been in the Final Four in 4 different decades.

Boeheim joins Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino and Dean Smith as the only coaches to go to the Final Four in 4 different decades.

This is the 8th time that two Big East teams have faced each other in the tournament:

1985 - Georgetown 77 St. John's 59 - National Semifinals

1985 - Villanova 66 Georgetown 64 - National Championship

1987 - Providence 88 Georgetown 73 - Elite Eight

1987 - Syracuse 77 Providence 63 - National Semifinals

2009 - Villanova 78 Pittsburgh 76 - Elite Eight

2011 - Connecticut 69 Cincinnati 58 - Round of 32

2011 - Marquette 66 Syracuse 62 - Round of 32

2013 - Syracuse 55 Marquette 39 - Elite Eight

Syracuse is 5-4 in the Elite Eight. Marquette is 3-4 in the Elite Eight.

Syracuse is 14-5 as a #4 seed. The 14 wins is tied with Louisville for the most all-time.

A #4 seed is in the Final Four for the 3rd consecutive year. It is the second time that #4 seeds have been in the Final Four 3 consecutive years. The other was 1995-1997.

Syracuse is a tournament-best 10-0 when allowing 50 or fewer points. Marquette is 0-3 when scoring 50 or fewer points.

Syracuse allowed 183 points in their first four games. That is the lowest number of points allowed by a final four team in the regional games since the field expanded in 1985. The previous low was 191 by Villanova in 1985. The lowest in the shot-clock era was 201 by UCLA in 2007.

Marquette's 39 points is the fewest that they have scored in 73 tournament games. Their previous low was 49 vs. Duke in the 1994 Sweet Sixteen and vs. Michigan State in the 2007 Round of 64.

Marquette's 39 points is also the fewest in an Elite Eight game during the shot-clock era. The previous low was 45 by Memphis in 2006 vs. UCLA. It is tied for the 7th fewest in the shot-clock era.

The two teams combined for 94 points which is the lowest scoring Elite Eight game in the shot-clock era. The previous low was 95 when UCLA defeated Memphis 50-45 in 2006.